crazy hair day

Today was crazy hair day at school.

I think the kids had some great ideas this year!

Too bad Mary came home one hour later with a sick stomach.  Dang this bug!

At least she got to have cool hair for a little while.

These guys crack me up!

the boys wanted smiley faces.

Mary thought of this all on her own

And then there is Molly.  I guess she wanted to join in, because after all of the hair was done, this is what I found.

everyone loves Nutella

Not only was she completely covered in Nutella, but she was sporting a Mohawk, thanks to ripping her hair tie out.

Happy crazy hair (and dirty face) day everyone!

ben turns 34!

The evening before Ben's birthday was the Cintas date I just posted about. (Mediterranean food and Haunted House).

As we drove home, Ben and I both mentioned that we felt kind of yucky.  We figured it was from all the different foods and the haunted house lighting.

When we got home, after everyone was in bed, I decorated the house for Ben's birthday the following Ben, and we crashed.

At around midnight, Sam woke me up saying he threw up.  He then told me that he missed the bathroom.

I made him a bed on the floor in our room, and I slugged my way upstairs to survey the damage.  I was definitely not ready for what I saw.

Sam had thrown up ALL over in his room.  The walls, doors, and carpet were all hit.  The amount was mind blowing.

Throw up is always really gross, but after being a mother for 10 years now, I thought I had learned how to just dig in and clean it up.

This time around though, I truly could not do it.  I kept getting sick every time I tried to clean it.  I made my way back to our room, woke Ben up, and asked him to clean it.  He said he wouldn't do it right then, and to wait until morning.

That would mean that we would have dried throw up everywhere, and unfortunately, that is harder to clean.  So, I made my way upstairs and literally gagged my way through cleaning it all up.  It was the hardest time I have ever had cleaning something like that up.

I finally got back in bed, just in time for Sam to groan and grab his stomach. I quickly picked him up and ran him to the bathroom where he unloaded everything again.

This happened two more times in the next hour.  The poor kid was miserable.

Around 2:00am, Sam finally seemed settled, so I fell asleep.

I woke up to the sound of Ben getting out of Ben very quickly.  He walked around our bed toward the bathroom and then I heard a HUGE crash of doors banging together and cupboards banging.  It honestly sounded like the house was falling down.

I looked toward the bathroom as Ben rolled on to his back on the floor and was completely still.

I shot out of Bed and ran to Ben, who was completely unconscious.  I thought that maybe he had tripped over Sam on the floor and hit his head on the counter and knocked himself out, but there was no blood on his head.

Finally, Ben started to stir and said that he was going to throw up.  I grabbed Sam's bowl from him and gave it to Ben, just as I heard William screaming from the other room.

I thought William would be puking too, but he just woke up from all the noise and was scared.

Ben continued to throw up for a while and then finally told me that he had just woken up feeling really sick and passed out on his way to the bathroom.

Poor guy!  What a way to start your Birthday.

Needless to say, Ben stayed home from work the next day, and Sam was home from school.

I took the kids to the store to get a few small things for Ben (he already got his big present earlier by going to the Warren Miller movie with me, Mary, Sam and William.  He also got a ski helmet).

Ben slept on and off all day, and so did Sam.

I had planned on a big Birthday dinner, but I just made the cake, and we will have the dinner later.

Later in the evening, the kids gave Ben the presents they picked out.

They each gave him a picture of them with Ben, a balloon and a gift that they picked out. It was really cute.

Luke gave Ben a saw and a flashlight. He also gave him a measuring tape, but then took it back to keep. haha

William gave him his favorite treats...Skittles and Jerkey (which the kids promptly ate)

Mary gave him a CD

Sam was too sick to get off the couch, but he gave Ben hand warmers for when they ski together.

Molly gave him lots of loves and kisses and snuggles and an exercise floor ladder.

We then had cake and ice cream, and Ben was kind enough to blow out the candles so that Luke could see fire, and the kids could sing to him.

Soon after, everyone went to bed. We were all done for.

Ben also had phone calls throughout the day, and lots of nice Facebook messages.

I hope he was able to have a good Birthday, even with feeling crappy.

I am so glad I am married to him, and that we get to share this life together.  I was grateful for the chance to celebrate Ben and to reflect on the good man and wonderful father he is.

We are all so blessed to have him in our lives.

Happy Birthday Ben. We love you.

spooky cintas night

Monday night, Ben and I were able to go on another Cintas date.  I love these, because we don't have to pay for anything, I really like the people on Ben's team, and we do cool stuff.

This one was with a little bit of a smaller group, but it was still a lot of fun.

We ate at a Mediterranean restaurant in Downtown Salt Lake.  I have never had Mediterranean food before, at least that I know if.  It was pretty good!
It was a place where everyone orders stuff, and then you just pass the plates around and take what you what from whatever plate you want.  I just made sure all of the calamari was by me, and I was content. :)

It was weird at first, but it ended up pretty cool, and it enabled us to try a lot of different foods.

The food was great, but we got kind of sick from eating so many different dishes and flavors.  It didn't sit well once it hit us all, but while we were eating, it was yummy.

After we ate, we headed over to the Haunted House on 13th Street.

Ben has never been to a Haunted House before, and I had only been to the Haunted Forest in Rexburg, so we did not know what to expect.

It was actually really scary in some parts, and I screamed...a lot. I am not normally a screamer, but everyone kept making Ben and I go first through all of the dark hallways, and I swear the creepy people always chose me to jump out at.

Some parts just flat out drove us nuts...like the dang maze Ben and I COULD NOT get out of, with a strobe light flashing in our faces as we walked around in circles.  We were both ready to punch someone in the teeth by the time we go out of there! 

It was hilarious to be with the group though, and watch each other get scared to death at different times.


yes, we are all actually screaming in this picture.  I am still a little deaf in my right ear, thank you Ben.  :)

All in all, it was a great night...and as always, so nice to be on a date with Ben.

Thank you Ben for working so hard to earn these fun outings for us.

well, ok then

The other day, Mary was telling me a story about a kid in her class who was pulling paper out of his ear.  Um, yeah, I know.  5th grade stuff I guess.

 

Anyway, while she was talking to me, Luke was standing near us playing with a toy.  When Mary finished telling me her story, Luke walked over to me and while looking me straight in the eye, stuck his finger in his ear.

 

After digging for a few seconds, he pulled his finger out of his ear and put it in front of my face.  He then exclaimed in his best Curious George monkey voice ever, "  he heeeee."

 

I looked at his finger, and saw this on it....

 

That would be the tube that has been in Lukes ear for the past year, preventing him from getting infections.

What the????

The timing could not have been any more perfect if I say so myself.

Oh, Lukey.

haunted half slc

 

This past Saturday was the Haunted Half in Salt Lake City.  I wasn't sure what to expect, but I really was excited to finally put all of my running this summer and fall to the test.

 

I signed up with a great group of friends that I have been doing some long runs with.  They are absolutely hilarious and so much fun to be around.

 

We had to leave Heber at 5:45 in the morning, drive to Salt Lake, and then take a bus to the starting line up Immigration Canyon.

 

Julianne picked us all up at my house and drove us there.  From the second I got my sleepy self into her car, it was all high energy and laughing the whole drive there.  It was great.

 

Karli bought us all matching batman socks...complete with capes that flew on the back!  They were awesome!

 

It was a costume run, but honestly there isn't a whole lot of "costume" that would be comfortable for 13.2 miles, so the socks were perfect.

 

 

 

We froze our bums off at the starting line for an hour, but we kept eachother warm with our stylin' foil blankets and lots of talking and laughing.

 

because 10 selfies just isn't enough, thank you Julianne.

 

 

Karli was not too thrilled about this race, because she didn't feel ready for it, and she almost had the other girls talked in to going out to breakfast instead!  They basically came to the conclusion that we got cute shirts, and really awesome SWAG, so it was time to leave. 

I had to threaten them with being drug behind me with a rope for 13 miles if they even tried to leave.  Eventually, the came around.  :)

 

 

I choked down a banana and a zip fizz about 15 minutes before start time, and of course, Julianne had to get a picture of that too. 

frozen Becky, eating a banana...lovely.

When the race finally started, Karli and I took off, but soon realized that we were not with the others.  We glanced back and Julianne and Jen were still at the starting line taking selfies and talking!!!  Crazy ladies.  We waited another few minutes for them to finish getting their pictures and getting ready and we finally took off...well after everyone else.  Geesh!

 

Unfortunately, we all run at a different pace, so around mile 4, I broke off from the group with Julianne.  And then my stomach did its typical freak out at mile 5 thing, and I had to wait in line at the bathroom.

 

I didn't see anyone else from the group after that, until the finish line.

 

I felt great during the run, aside from 3 bathroom stops, and literally gagging on some Goo at mile 9.  The course was the best I have ever run, with a gradual downhill the whole way, and a couple rolling hills, but nothing too steep.  It was definitely hard, and I did hit the wall around mile 10, but it was soooooo nice to be at mile 10 and know that I only had 3 miles left.

 

Typically, when I am at mile 10, I still have 16 miles to go, and it can be so discouraging.  Seriously, half marathons are the way to go.  Full marathons are killers!

 

I made it through the finish line and got the cutest medal ever!

yup, it opens up!  How cool is that!  I have to get it back from Luke and William every day, because they steal it and hide it in weird places. 

 

I also met up with two other friends, who ran the 5K course.  Pretty soon everyone else trickled in, and yes, we got more pictures.



the half marathon group...Jen Avery, Karli Sweat, Julianne and me

 

 

We had to blast home pretty quickly, because we all had soccer games to get to.  Julianne drove like an absolute psycho, and had Karli dry heaving in her foil blanket, but hey, we all made it to the soccer games on time!

I LOVED this Haunted Half!  It is definitely one we all want to do again.  Even Karly who said every nasty word under the sun for an entire 13.2 miles, agreed to do it again....in a year. 

Lucky for me, I am doing it again.  In 4 days.  Same venue, different course.  This time I will be alone though.  Yikes!

Wish me luck.

 

 

2015 family pictures

About a month ago, we ventured out to our lovely Heber mountains to get family pictures taken.

 

It was pretty cool for us, because it was the first time getting family pictures, with our complete family!  It was really special.

 

The kids did great, the location was exactly what I was hoping for, and it was a success.

 

FEW! 

 

So, here are the favorites.....out of 175 pictures!